BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION Biological Conservation 122 (2005) 23–31 www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon Lizards and landscapes: integrating field surveys and interviews to assess the impact of human disturbance on lizard assemblages and selected reptiles in a savanna in South Africa Rhett Smart a, Martin J. Whiting a,*, Wayne Twine a,b a School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa b Wits Rural Facility, Private Bag X420, Acornhoek 1360, South Africa Received 23 June 2003; received in revised form 18 June 2004; accepted 23 June 2004 Abstract Habitat degradation through over-grazing and wood collection is especially prevalent in developing countries such as South Africa. As human populations expand and the demand for land increases, the traditional idiom of setting aside protected areas for conservation is insufficient and assessment and protection of diversity outside these areas is needed. We assessed the impact of land use on lizard assemblages in communal rangelands in South Africa by comparing abundance, species richness and species diversity between degraded communal lands with a protected area. We first quantified vegetation differences between the study areas and found marked differences. Communal lands had significantly fewer large trees and less ground cover. Contrary to prediction, we found no evidence that any species of lizard was negatively affected by habitat disturbance. Some species were more common in communal lands, and species richness and diversity were also higher using certain sampling techniques. Terrestrial diversity was likely enhanced due to the preference of many terrestrial lizards for open, sparsely grassed areas. We discuss other reasons for increased diversity such as the intermediate disturbance hypothesis and/or reduced numbers of predators and competitors. We also conducted surveys of households and traditional healers to investigate the relationship between human uses of reptiles and abun- dance. The predominant users of reptiles were traditional healers. The most commonly used species were not encountered in our field surveys, and respondents indicated that they appeared to be declining. Our results emphasise the importance of integrating local knowledge into biodiversity assessment and conservation planning. Although we did not identify a negative impact of distur- bance on lizard communities, community structure was different and this likely influenced ecosystem integrity and function in some way. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Lizards; Ecosystems; Disturbance; Reptiles; Biodiversity; Human impact; Savanna; Traditional medicine; South Africa 1. Introduction humans are dependent on the environment for basic sur- vival. Furthermore, unsustainable use of natural re- Unchecked human population growth and a short- sources not only reduces species diversity, but term strategy to natural resource use has impacted on ultimately results in a degraded ecosystem with dimin- global biodiversity in a devastating fashion (Ehrlich, ished return of key environmental services (Rapport 1988; Wilson, 1988). This is particularly evident in et al., 1998). Understanding the limits of ecosystem sta- developing countries where unemployment is high and bility and resilience, particularly in relation to changes in species numbers and abundance, is a major challenge * Corresponding author. Tel.: +27-11-717-6321; fax: +27-11-403- in ecology (Downing and Leibold, 2002). One measure 1429. of ecosystem perturbation is to quantify changes in E-mail address: [email protected] (M.J. Whiting). assemblages of particular taxa in a given area in relation 0006-3207/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2004.06.016 24 R. Smart et al. / Biological Conservation 122 (2005) 23–31 to environmental change. Lizards are a good candidate We studied the impact of human-driven disturbance for these studies because they are easily observable, rel- on lizard assemblages in a savanna biome in South Africa. atively abundant, and occupy a diversity of habitats and Our approach was twofold: we conducted field surveys to niches (Pianka, 1986; but see Fabricus et al., 2003). In assess species richness, abundance and diversity of liz- particular, several species are arboreal and therefore ards in undisturbed and disturbed habitats, and we con- dependent on trees: a key resource (firewood, curios, ducted interviews of households and traditional leaders furniture and construction) in southern African rural to measure direct impacts (e.g., use and/or killing) on liz- communities. Arboreal lizards should therefore occur ards and selected reptiles. Because of logistical con- in reduced numbers in areas of high tree utilisation. straints, we restricted our field surveys to lizards. Various human land practices such as forest clearing However, our interviews focussed on commonly used in the Amazon, or bush encroachment due to poor land- reptiles such as pythons, monitor lizards, and tortoises, management, can alter lizard habitat (Vitt et al., 1998; all of which are traditionally used by local communities Meik et al., 2002). Anthropogenic disturbance varies in South Africa (Simelane and Kerley, 1997). in impact on reptile communities and species. For exam- ple, lizard abundance and species richness peaked at intermediate levels of urbanisation in Tucson, Arizona 2. Methods (Germaine and Wakeling, 2001), whereas agricultural disturbance caused a marked decrease in lizard species 2.1. Study area diversity in the Dominican Republic (Glor et al., 2000). In southeastern Spain, common chameleons Fieldwork was conducted at Wits Rural Facility (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) are most common in areas of (WRF) (Bohlabela district, Limpopo Province, 24° intermediate disturbance, such as cultivated areas and 310S; 31° 60E; low disturbance study area), and in neigh- near roads (Hodar et al., 2000). Human behaviour can bouring communal rangelands (CL), around the Sigag- also impact directly on reptiles. In Australia, a large pro- ula community (high disturbance study area). WRF is portion of mortality to large elapid snakes is from kill- a protected area used as a research station. CL (Sigag- ing by humans, because they are highly venomous and ula) is also in the Bohlabela district, which has land-uses considered a threat (Whitaker and Shine, 2000). In typical of African savanna rangelands, and was charac- South Africa, reptiles are commonly killed by Xhosa terised by high population density, poverty, cattle over- and Zulu speaking people of the Eastern Cape Province stocking, and intensive harvesting of firewood, placing for medicinal purposes, as a result of superstition, or if high pressure on natural resources (Shackleton, 2000). they pose a potential danger (Simelane and Kerley, In the late 1990s the mean population density was 176 1997). Finally, many reptiles such as crocodiles, pythons people per km2 (Pollard et al., 1999), while the cattle and monitor lizards are harvested for commercial gain stocking rate was 0.88 livestock units (LSU) per hectare (e.g., Webb et al., 1987; Shine et al., 1996, 1999). (four times the recommended stocking rate) (Parsons The traditional approach to conserving biodiversity is et al., 1997). The two study areas were ±10 km apart to set aside protected areas (Bibby, 1998). Human pop- to ensure similar environmental variables, making land ulations continue to grow however, and the amount of management regime the major difference (soil type and land available for protection in reserves is nearing its general topography were the same). We sampled three limit, hence an assessment of biodiversity outside pro- replicate sites per study area, 1–2 km apart within each tected areas is needed (Shackleton, 2000). Traditional study area. agro-ecosystems may harbour high levels of diversity, sometimes comparable to protected areas (McNeely, 2.2. Vegetation structure 1995). Sustainable use of resources so they persist into the future is therefore key to ensuring conservation of We assessed woody plant density using 10 belt tran- biodiversity outside of protected areas. sects per site, 100 · 10 m in length and 50 m apart. Woody Habitat disturbance is dependent on land practice. plants with circumference >5 cm were recorded using Legally, there is equal access to resources under commu- the following physical characteristics: circumference nal tenure. If institutional or social control over re- (5–50, 50–100, >100 cm); dead; alive with no leaves; or sources is weak or non-existent, or if human densities alive with leaves; height (>2, 2–4, >4 m); and presence are above carrying capacity, overexploitation can result of holes and/or loose bark. We only considered holes (Shackleton, 1998). Livestock grazing is the primary and loose bark that had sufficient space for a lizard to land use in African savanna communal rangelands, with take refuge. Every 2 m along each transect, distance, cir- additional natural resource harvesting, particularly that cumference and height of the nearest grass tuft was re- of firewood (Cousins, 1999). Together, intensive live- corded. Density was calculated using D = 1/(2d)2, stock grazing and wood collection results in a decrease where D = density and d = mean distance to nearest tuft. in grass and woody biomass respectively. We calculated basal cover (mÀ2) by converting mean R. Smart et al. / Biological Conservation 122 (2005) 23–31 25 grass tuft circumference to mean basal area, and multi- in encounter